If your Orlando International Airport flight is delayed, blame congestion in New York

March 9, 2008|By Jason Garcia, Sentinel Staff Writer

JetBlue Airways Flight 744, a midafternoon shuttle to Newark, N.J., was the most chronically late flight out of Orlando International Airport in 2007.

But it wasn't the only tardy flight bound for the New York area.

According to an Orlando Sentinel review of data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, four of the five worst-performing flights last year were headed for the New York metropolitan area -- three to Newark Liberty International and one to John F. Kennedy International -- home of the most delay-plagued airports in the country.

The list included two flights each operated by JetBlue and Continental Airlines.

Also among the top five was a US Airways flight to Philadelphia. But the airline blamed much of that flight's trouble on flying into New York's congested airspace -- illustrating how the problems affect more than just Orlando's New York-bound jets.

It's also not uncommon for flights from Orlando to cities such as Chicago or Dallas to be affected by backups in the Big Apple that ripple across the country. Transportation officials say that as many as two-thirds of all flight delays in the United States can be traced to New York.

"If New York is congested," said Darryl Jenkins, an aviation consultant, "so is the rest of the world."

In 2007, OIA ranked eighth best among major airports, with 79 percent of its flights leaving on time.

Restrictions on schedules

In hopes of easing New York's traffic, the federal government this week will begin capping the number of flights allowed at JFK -- one of New York's three major airports, along with Newark and LaGuardia -- to no more than 83 takeoffs and landings an hour. Airlines scheduled as many as 109 flights an hour at Kennedy last summer.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the major U.S. airlines are negotiating similar restrictions for Newark. "We're wrapping up negotiations now," DOT spokesman Brian Turmail said.

"We'd like to have them take effect as soon as possible," Turmail said. "It's more than a regional issue." Such restrictions are in place at LaGuardia.

The Sentinel's review focused on the 10 most frequently delayed flights during each month of 2007 to identify those flights that showed up most often throughout the year. The worst performers all shared two key characteristics: They were headed for the Northeast, and they departed after noon.

A similar pattern emerged for flights into Orlando. The most chronically delayed inbound flight, for example, was a Delta Air Lines jet from Kennedy.

Among the departing flights, JetBlue 744, which flew last year as JetBlue 524, fared the worst.

The flight, which is supposed to leave Orlando at 2:25 p.m. every day and touch down in Newark at 5:22 p.m., ranked among the most-delayed flights in seven out of 12 months during 2007 -- more than any other flight. It arrived in Newark on time only four of every 10 trips during the course of the year -- fewer than two of every 10 flights during one particularly bad month. And it landed, on average, one hour and 47 minutes late.

The rest at the top:

*US Airways 1626 to Philadelphia, departing at 5:05 p.m.

*Continental Airlines 36 to Newark, departing at 2:50 p.m.

*Continental 1693 to Newark, departing at 5:15 p.m. (though the Continental flight times changed slightly on some days).

*JetBlue 46 to Kennedy, departing at 12:50 p.m.

JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the carrier's flights were most often delayed because they had to wait on the ground in Orlando for takeoff clearance from air-traffic control. The wait was typically for two reasons: Heavy traffic in New York left no room for planes to land, or poor weather.

"With all the congestion and growth that's been happening in the three major New York metro airports, there tends to be backups," Baldwin said.

Tough to catch up

Heavy traffic and bad weather aren't mutually exclusive problems. Weather disruptions from problems such as snow or thunderstorms are especially troublesome in New York because flights are so tightly packed together that, even after a short delay, it can be impossible for the airlines to catch up.

New York flights are also most vulnerable to the very worst delays. Federal transportation data show six flights from Orlando last year in which passengers were forced to wait on the tarmac for at least three hours -- and five of the six flights were headed to Newark. (The sixth was a July 14 American Airlines flight to Dallas.)

Four of the Newark-bound flights were flown by Continental. The longest wait occurred Aug. 3, when Continental 1593 sat on the tarmac for 227 minutes -- nearly four hours -- before taking off.

Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark said all four of the three-hour-plus waits were the result of bad weather that led to widespread backups. She blamed the broader struggle with delays on Continental's Newark flights on outdated air-traffic-guidance equipment.

U.S. airlines are lobbying Congress and the FAA to switch to a more efficient, satellite-based air-traffic-monitoring system, though such a project is expected to cost at least $15 billion.

"Flights to Newark are traditionally impacted by the congested airspace in that area, which just points to the need for modernizing the air-traffic-control system," Clark said.

Don Schlomer was one of the lucky ones flying last week between Orlando and Newark.

The 50-year-old military analyst, a frequent business traveler from Altamonte Springs, arrived at OIA last Tuesday to find his 1:30 p.m. Continental flight to Newark already delayed. But he was able to switch to a seat on a 12:30 p.m. Continental flight -- which was likewise running behind schedule.

"You've just got to know the system. The tourists that don't normally travel, though, I feel sorry for them," Schlomer said Friday as he waited to pick up his bag after the return trip from Newark.